SGA works to move ashtrays further from buildings

Here at Seton Hall University, students and faculty are welcome to smoke if they so choose. There are ashtrays located throughout campus, allowing smokers to potentially harm others through secondhand smoke.

Non-smokers, are urging others to smoke further away from school buildings. Last week, during a Student Government Association meeting, Michelle Pan, chair of the student life committee, talked about the initiative to relocate ashtrays.

SGA and Facilities Engineering are both taking strides towards making the campus safer for non-smokers.Greg Media/Photography Editor

“We decided to create an initiative for this because there were some students who have expressed their concern that when they walk out of a certain building, mostly academic and resident buildings, they would have to walk by people smoking, and they were not happy with the cloud of smoke,” Pan said.

The proposition proposed that ashtrays be moved and placed 25 feet away from all buildings on campus. Currently, people are not allowed to smoke within 25 feet of buildings. The ashtrays will now follow the rule as well. Both Pan and Facilities Engineering wanted to point out that many students move ashtrays closer to buildings, which is prohibited on campus.

An official from Facilities Engineering recommended fixing the ashtrays in place after relocating them at least 25 feet away from buildings entrances, windows and building ventilation systems.

An official from Public Safety stated that they, “would not have any objections to the relocation of the ashtrays.” They did, however, want to point out that it is important for ashtrays to be near building entrances so that cigarettes can be easily disposed of before entering a building.